


Flowers of Forgiveness

by wontonto



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, it's kenma who's dead sorry baby, it's needed for the prompt!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:00:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24452518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wontonto/pseuds/wontonto
Summary: Kuroo's childhood best friend, Kenma, died in an unfortunate accident a year ago. For that whole year, on the seventh of each month, Kuroo has stolen some flowers from his neighbor's yard to take to Kenma's grave. At first he was stealthy, but when he caught a glimpse of what his neighbor actually looked like, he realized he wouldn't mind getting caught.
Relationships: Bokuto Koutarou/Kuroo Tetsurou
Comments: 2
Kudos: 55





	Flowers of Forgiveness

**Author's Note:**

> Based off this prompt: https://awful-aus.tumblr.com/post/116941769918/awful-au-196

Kuroo had always been so careful, always managing to get away from the garden unnoticed. It had been a year since he’d started taking flowers from the guy’s flower beds each month, but this time he’d fucked up. 

He heard a shout and clattering come from inside the house, and his head shot up to see the owner of the house pressing his face against the window, his face formed into a scowl before he disappeared. Kuroo wanted to laugh at how ridiculous this whole situation was. 

“I knew someone was taking my flowers!” The young man stormed out of his house, brandishing an angry fist while holding a wooden spoon, an apron draped over his t-shirt and jeans. “I _knew_ it!” 

Kuroo rubbed the back of his neck, trying to figure out how to get out of this debacle while holding the stolen flowers in his hand. He could’ve been buying flowers this whole time, but perhaps a part of him had wanted to get caught by this handsome stranger. He was kind of glad that he hadn’t given up on this, considering how oblivious this guy was and it had taken him ages to be discovered. Granted, he’d been as careful as possible, making sure not to damage any of the flower beds, and not taking too many at a time. But still, he’d more often than not gone when it was broad daylight. 

The golden eyes were filled with anger at him, but Kuroo found himself enraptured by them. The man’s hair was a sight to behold: silvery at the end with dark roots. Kuroo wasn’t sure if it was the fact that the guy didn’t seem to care that his roots were showing or what, but he found it incredibly attractive. The man’s _arms,_ too. Kuroo was willing to bet he worked out every day. 

“If this girl is pretty enough to warrant flower theft, I’d better meet her!” the stranger yelled, pointing the spoon at Kuroo for a second before running back into the house. 

Kuroo stood there for a moment, blinking at his reaction. He’d expected the yelling, but a part of him had hoped that he’d just let it go. He was certain that the stranger was going into the house to call the cops on him. 

He should make a break for it and never come back to the house again. He’d even move, making sure to avoid the stranger forever. Though, before he could even take a step, the stranger had come back out wearing shoes and an even sterner expression, still with the apron on and the spoon still in his hand. 

“Alright, flower thief, take me to this girl whom you’ve been stealing my flowers for,” he crossed his muscular arms over his chest, and Kuroo bit his lip. Hot damn he wanted to sink his teeth into those arms. 

“Ok, I guess...” he shrugged, cutting one more flower out of the stranger’s flower bed with a smirk. 

“Really? I’m right here. Standing right in front of you.” 

“Yeah,” Kuroo nodded. “Figured I might as well get one more.” 

He started walking down the road toward the edge of town, the stranger following him like an angry puppy yapping at his heels. 

“When did you start stealing my flowers, thief?” He pointed the spoon at Kuroo and he wondered if he was really attached to that spoon or if he’d just forgotten that he’d been holding it this whole time. 

“I have a name, you know,” Kuroo rolled his eyes. 

“You’re just known to me as ‘flower thief.’ So answer my question.” 

Kuroo sighed. “Don’t kill me, but I’ve kind of been doing this for a year.” 

The man’s jaw dropped. “Holy shit, are you serious? How often?” 

“Once every month, on the seventh.” 

They were quiet for a few minutes as their sneakers scuffed the sidewalk, and the man started humming a tune. Kuroo smiled. He wouldn’t have thought this hulking mass of muscle would start singing when he was distracted. 

They passed the only floral shop in town and the man looked over at it and waved the spoon. “Why not just buy flowers for the girl? I mean, it’s not that far from my house, right? And it seems to be on the way to wherever we’re going.” 

Kuroo bit his lip. Now was as good a time as any. “Well, he’s not for a girl, for one thing.” 

“Oh, my bad. I suppose guys do like getting flowers, too.” 

“You literally have like five flower beds, I would think that _you_ like flowers,” Kuroo said under his breath. 

“But at least I’m going to get to meet him, right? He’d better be _fine_ for you to be stealing my flowers,” the stranger continued. 

“I... guess so, yeah...” Kuroo shrugged, his shoulders going tense. He’d always gone by himself, and having someone with him, _especially_ a stranger, seemed a little sacrilegious in a way. 

The man gave him a strange look. “You’re acting really weird for a flower thief.” 

“How would you expect a flower thief to act?” 

“So you admit it!” 

“I never denied it.” 

Kuroo sighed and looked at the small bouquet of lilies, carnations, and roses he’d collected. “I just... wanted him to get some fresh flowers. And I wanted to pick them myself, even if that meant stealing my neighbor’s.” 

“You literally couldn’t just buy some from the florist?!” The man wildly waved the spoon at the floral shop behind them. 

“Nope, there’s something about getting the flowers myself that just... makes it more personal, I guess.” 

“And you couldn’t grow your own flowers?” 

“Nah, too much work,” Kuroo laughed. 

“So you just take _my_ flowers from _my_ house, benefiting off _my_ hard work! I should charge you whatever they would at a florist,” the man pouted. 

“I mean, I would gladly pay you back, but honestly at this point I’m not sure how many flowers I’ve taken.” 

They were starting to approach the dingy part of town, where only two things resided: the cemetery and the old church everyone in the town swore was haunted. 

“So you meet him at the old church, huh?” 

“No, in the cemetery,” Kuroo blinked. 

The stranger side-eyed him. “That’s some weird guy you got there.” 

He couldn’t help the bark of laughter that escaped his mouth. “Really?” 

“What are you laughing about?” the stranger’s eyes widened in realization as they walked past the church. “Oh.” 

They entered the cemetery through the creaking, broken gate and Kuroo walked a semi-overgrown path with certainty. The stranger followed behind, glancing at the crumbling headstones around them. 

Kuroo stopped and crouched down to put the bouquet in front of a relatively new headstone that said, _“Kozume Kenma, beloved son, friend, and mentor.”_

“Hey, Kenma, I brought someone to meet you,” he looked up over his shoulder at the stranger behind him. “Though I can’t introduce you because I don’t actually know his name.” 

“Bokuto Koutaro,” the stranger said quietly. “Sorry I didn’t realize sooner. I’m... kind of a moron sometimes.” 

Kuroo snorted. “I’ll say. I’ve never met someone who would follow me all the way to the haunted cemetery over a few flowers.” 

Bokuto shrugged. “I really like flowers. And apparently so did... Kozume.” 

Kuroo looked at the headstone and swept some dirt off the top of it. “I mean, as much as the next guy, but I just feel like it’s appropriate, you know?” 

Bokuto nodded, and glanced at the spoon in his hand. He knelt down next to Kuroo and gently put the spoon next to the flowers. 

Kuroo’s eyebrows went up and he bit his lip to keep from laughing. Bokuto seemed sincere in his offering, and Kuroo didn’t want to undermine it. 

“Sorry, I would’ve brought flowers too, if I knew we were going to a graveyard,” he pouted when he saw Kuroo side-eying him. 

“What were you going to do with a spoon if I was meeting a girl? Smack her upside the head?” Kuroo couldn’t keep back his laughter anymore. 

“I don’t know! Maybe?” Bokuto threw his hands in the air and got up to his full height. “I really feel bad about this whole... thing though.” 

Kuroo waved his hand and got up as well. He stuck his hands in his pockets and let out a breath as the wind blew past them, the tall, unkempt grass brushing their ankles. 

They stood there for a few moments before Bokuto asked, “Do you have any pictures of him?” 

“Of course I do. He’s my... he was my best friend,” Kuroo’s voice broke as he pulled out his phone. He hadn’t changed his home screen picture since he was told about Kenma’s accident. It didn’t hurt as much to look at anymore, but sometimes, especially right in front of his grave, the pain came back. 

It was of him and Kenma, both of them smiling. Kenma almost never let anyone take his picture, let alone smiled for them. Especially in selfies that Kuroo took. Kuroo had usually had to drag Kenma to do anything, especially take selfies. But this one... this one was very special. Kenma was in the middle of laughing out loud, something he’d rarely done. Kuroo was looking at him with a smile on his face, also laughing, the look in his eyes soft and affectionate. 

He'd had a huge crush on Kenma since they were kids. Did he do anything about it? No. A part of him did regret it, but a bigger part of him recognized that if he had admitted his feelings to Kenma and they’d become boyfriends, the accident probably would’ve been even more jarring. 

“You must’ve been really close to have the two of you as your home screen,” Bokuto said quietly after he’d looked at the picture for a few seconds. 

“Yeah.” 

Both of them stood there, unsure of how to proceed with the next step in their weird friendship? Kuroo didn’t really want to call it that, it was more of a... begrudging relationship between a thief and victim. Or something like that. 

“Um, so... you can take as many flowers as you want, for him,” Bokuto coughed. 

Kuroo smiled. “Thanks. But even if you’d been super pissed at me and refused to let me have them, I would’ve still gone and taken your flowers.” 

“How rude,” Bokuto glared at him, shoving his shoulder playfully. 

Kuroo shrugged. “Deal with it.” 

“So... not to make this even weirder than it already has been, but I don’t even know your name...?” Bokuto said quietly, looking at Kuroo. 

“Oh, I guess you’re right. That’s what you get for following me and calling me ‘flower thief’ this whole time,” Kuroo chuckled. 

Bokuto groaned. “Would you just please tell me your name?” 

“Kuroo Tetsurou.” 

“Thank you. So... I know this might be super weird, considering I just followed you all the way out here over a huge misunderstanding, but can I like... take you out to lunch or something?” 

“At least wait until we’re out of the graveyard before asking me out on a date,” Kuroo laughed. “Do you have any tact whatsoever?” 

“Sorry, I just feel really bad!” Bokuto ruffled his hair. “And I want to... take you out.” 

“Take me out like on a date or just straight up murder me, because honestly I would like either or right now,” he let out a self-deprecating laugh. 

“Dude, no. Like, on a date. No murder happening today, okay?” Bokuto grabbed Kuroo’s shoulders. 

Kuroo instantly tensed, feeling his eyes go wide with surprise. 

Bokuto immediately let go, drawing back a couple steps. “Sorry.” 

“No, it’s...” Kuroo blinked. He hadn’t really had anyone touch him since Kenma’s funeral. “Let’s go.” 

He turned on his heel and Bokuto followed him out of the cemetery, plodding along like a puppy with its tail between its legs. 

Kuroo sighed. “You don’t have to get so weird about it, Bokuto. You can walk beside me instead of behind me like some kind of dog. I mean, this whole situation is already fucking weird.” 

“But... I feel bad. Really.” 

“Seriously, don’t worry about it. It’s honestly fine,” Kuroo waved his hand, trying to get Bokuto to drop it. “It happened a year ago. It still hurts, but not as much as it did.” 

“But it’s not fine. It doesn’t matter how long ago it happened. I feel like I keep screwing up and I really don’t want to...” 

“What don’t you want to screw up, Bokuto?” 

He took a deep breath and looked back towards the cemetery. “Are you sure you just... want me to lay it out like this?” 

Kuroo shrugged. “Of course. I’d rather our... weird thief/victim dynamic we have going here right now change to something more like friends at the very least? And I think that starts with honesty.” 

“I think you’re hot,” he blurted out. “And... I’m kind of glad I caught you stealing my flowers because even though you were stealing them, it gave us an opportunity to meet. I’m a little sad about the flowers. But that doesn’t mean I don’t forgive you because I do!” 

Kuroo was a bit taken aback as Bokuto continued to babble. He hadn’t expected this whole thing to go like this. He’d started stealing the flowers because he’d found Bokuto attractive, of course, but to think that Bokuto found him attractive as well? Unheard of. 

“Wow, okay. Um...” His brain tried to think of a response. “I think you’re hot too. And honestly I started stealing your flowers because I thought you were hot. And I mean, I did buy them at first but then I saw you buying some bulbs at the flower shop and realized that you were my neighbor and you had a million flowers.” 

“Really?” Bokuto gaped. 

“Yeah, I...” he took a deep breath. “I think Kenma would’ve given me shit for how I went about this, but... after he died it hurt a lot more than I thought it would. But... I think now that I’ve actually talked to you and... I think he’d be okay with it.” 

“So... what are you saying?” 

“I’m saying that we both find each other attractive, so why not give dating a try?” 

Bokuto seemed shocked. “Really?” 

“Why not? In fact, let’s go grab a coffee right now.” 

Bokuto nodded happily. 

They walked in silence, but it was comfortable. Kuroo hadn’t felt this comfortable around someone since Kenma had died. He took that as a sign that he could trust Bokuto. Their hands brushed just after Kuroo had that thought, and he looked over at Bokuto to see him blushing. 

Before Kuroo could make their hands brush again, Bokuto crossed his arms to prevent it. 

“What, you don’t want to hold hands?” Kuroo laughed. 

“Not that I don’t want to, I just don’t want to make you uncomfortable,” Bokuto said quietly. “I mean, you obviously didn’t like when I touched you earlier, so...” 

“Oh. Bokuto, that was just because it was a little... I haven’t really had any physical contact with anyone since the hugs at Kenma’s funeral.” 

Bokuto blinked, his eyes wide. “Dude, that was, what? At least a year ago?” 

“Pretty much.” 

“Damn, how have you lived? I have to have contact with someone at least every day.” 

Kuroo shrugged. “Honestly I don’t, really. I mean, I'm not really a touchy-feely person anyway, but... it has been really hard since Kenma died.” 

“Bro, you’re being super open about this, are you honestly okay?” 

“Just hold my hand, will you?” Kuroo held out his hand, looking Bokuto straight in the eyes with a small blush on his face. “I’m saying I don’t mind if it’s you.” 

Bokuto grinned widely and took Kuroo’s hand. “I guess I don’t mind if we hold hands, either. 

They walked into a cozy café together, ordered their drinks and Bokuto paid before Kuroo could even take out his wallet. 

They sat down at a table in the back and started getting to know each other. 

“So, why exactly do you have a million flower beds and not like an actual garden?” 

“My roommate really likes flowers, and he was the one who got me into growing them. He was actually the one who noticed that flowers were gradually disappearing. He blamed me for a while, saying that I’d killed them and was trying to hide it from him.” 

“Oh, damn, I didn’t fool anyone, then?” 

“Nope,” Bokuto laughed. 

“Sorry you got heat for it, though.” 

The barista came with their coffees and they thanked her before continuing their conversation. 

“So, what’s your roommate like?” Kuroo asked. 

Bokuto’s mouth opened and he took a breath before closing it and drinking some of his coffee. Kuroo could see a blush appearing on his cheeks. 

“Ah, so he’s _that_ kind of roommate, huh?” He leaned his chin in his palm, wiggling his eyebrows. 

“No, no! He’s been a friend since high school, and...” 

“I thought we were going to be honest with each other,” Kuroo said. 

“Okay, so maybe I’ve had a crush on him since high school... But... it’s not like he feels the same about me.” 

“Hmm, are you sure about that, though? Have you actually asked him out?” 

“Well, no, but -” 

“Then how do you know he doesn’t feel the same?” 

“I just... I thought we were trying to give dating _each other_ a try? Not you trying to set me up with my best friend,” Bokuto pouted. 

Kuroo shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. “Take it from someone who knows how painful it is to be in love with his best friend, Bokuto. I never told Kenma how I felt, and honestly... I'm not sure what would’ve happened if I had. But now I’ll never know. So, take this chance to act on it before it’s too late.” 

Bokuto reached across the table and grabbed Kuroo’s cheeks in his large hands. _Oh._ He didn’t just have sexy arms. 

“Kuroo,” Bokuto looked him in the eyes, searching for something. “I said I’d give dating you a chance. If it doesn’t work out between us, fine, I’ll tell Akaashi how I feel. But right now, in this moment, I want to tell you how I feel, and I _am_ attracted to you. So why are you trying to push me away?” 

Kuroo licked his lips. “I’m scared,” he whispered. 

He felt tears leak out of the corner of his eyes, and Bokuto gently brushed them away with his thumbs. “It's okay to be scared. But even if you’re scared, you’re the one who said you wanted us to be honest.” 

Kuroo put his hands over Bokuto’s and smiled. 

“Yeah, I did say that. And I’m sorry that I’m still... it still hurts.” 

“Of course it does. I won’t expect it will ever fully go away. And dating someone like me isn’t going to change that. Or replace him. But... maybe we could still make it work.” 

Both of their faces flushed at Bokuto’s declaration and Kuroo gently led Bokuto and his clasped hands to his mouth to press a kiss against Bokuto’s knuckles. 

“Thank you.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I deleted the first version and this is a re-upload cause for some reason the word count wasn't showing up??? I also edited and expanded it, so I feel like this version is more complete. ~~i didn't even do this for my creativing writing class which i somehow, _magically_ passed djakslghaiogj i got a C which is still passing!!! it's bc of covid-19 tbh~~


End file.
